Show Recap: ‘The Breaks’ Season 1, Episode 3 – “Blind Alley”

Last week ‘The Breaks,’ left us with a lot of unanswered questions toward the position and the decisions that each character stood in based off of their selfishness or everyone’s need to be in control. We didn’t know what to think about the direction of Nikki and David’s relationship and if they were calling it quits or not, rather DeeVee was being shipped away by his dad for some southern hospitality from his aunt or if Ahm will ever allow himself to make a switch on his lifestyle in order to focus on music, before it’s too late.

Episode 3

Let that breath of anticipation go, well if you’re against Nikki and David being an item because they are D O N E. Nikki’s reasoning as she explained to Damita, was the fact that David is too ‘sweet,’….gentle and oh no, PATIENT! But in reality, her first purpose stating that she can’t move the way she wants to move while with David, is the actual truth. And to be quite honest, I’m not opposed to the sudden split and from the looks of it, neither is David once we witness him tell Nikki to make sure she comes by her ex-home to collect her things, and he’ll even stay out later so he’s not there to witness it. Funny how he’s the one who got broken up with and thinks he’s ‘the man.’ There’s several seats for you to take, David. Pick one.

But let’s get onto something we probably or definitely care a lot more about a.k.a. ‘IMANI X’ a.k.a., multi-talented, body goals, super-mom, Teyana Taylor. Now at first, I was a bit iffy about Imani’s character, not her actual being on the show but her attitude. She’s introduced as a convenience store worker, unbothered and very stern. Nikki, being her usual pushy self, tries to convince Imani to sign with Flouray records, but all Imani seems to care about is the 25 cents Nikki owes her for the pack of Pineapple Now and Laters she asks for and holding up the line. As the show progress, I started to find comfort with Imani. She can spit and Taylor does a fantastic job of portraying this completely chill, go with the flow, kick-ass confident woman who just loves rap. It’s her mother I’m not feeling too much though, or should I say the ‘momager.’ And not the good kind of momager, but the one who disguises seeing dollar signs as wanting the best for their child and wanting to protect them from the scammers and big, scary people of the rap world, blah blah blah.

Imani’s mother couldn’t even stand to see her own daughter comfortable in the clothes she’s wearing, referring to her as a ‘lil boy,’ or raunchy because she chooses to wear baggy clothes and fitted caps; it’s not the end of the world moms. But I barely paid attention to what Imani’s wardrobe choices were, especially with the way she bodied that disrespectful, sexist, sorry excuse of a man who couldn’t go a bar in battle rap without calling Imani the ‘b word,’ or mentioning her lack of femininity. She ended up scoring a deal once Barry came off of high to realize that she’s actually talented all thanks to Nikki, who disappointedly isn’t even able to share the success.

Being as Imani’s mother made it clear under two conditions guaranteeing Imani’s talent to the label: 1. She gets 25k up front. 2. Nikki basically doesn’t step foot near Imani during the entire course of her career. Harsh right? Yeah, but I guess Nikki’s will to always push when certain situations are already close to the edge, (hence her promising Imani an audition with Flouray, who was over ‘Hip-Hop American Idol,’ before it even started) ended up with her falling…completely. And ‘Tamika the Hater’ seemed quite happy about Nikki’s loss too. I thought they were cool in an ‘I don’t like you but I’ll deal with you?” type way. Guess not.

Welp! Looks like Ahm hasn’t changed or won’t be anytime soon. Unless you want to call a setup to kill, a way of burning bridges and starting over. Regardless, I’ll always put Scooby up for part of the blame, that guy’s head grows warmer every episode. It was an emotional toll seeing Bug’s mother (the guy killed by the enemy in the last ep, Scooby and Ahm delivered guilt money to his mother), return the money to Ahm and his crew. I can tell it affected Ahm, being as he came off as tranced after she explained how that was her only child and no amount of money could come near to replacing him and definitely not bringing him back. I would’ve thought seeing her vulnerability in that moment would’ve shifted Ahm and his crew’s motives but instead, they go about, with no remorse, continuing the cycle of a violent gun war. Facepalm.

If anyone has a small crush on DeeVee even though he’s a fictional character, it’s totally acceptable because he’s even cuter when he DJs. The guy has a serious talent when it comes to scratching, that entirety of the DJ battle scene made me want to bring out the vinyl and crates of all the hottest late 80s to the early 90s Hip-Hop music. What goes DeeVee his first win, although losing the second round was his ability to stand out, without being cocky but passionate in his love for music and that’s how he earns his respect; as a producer and general student of Hip-Hop. And did anyone else peep Charlemagne in the white congo? Iconic.

I’m hoping to see more of Josie this season. As of now, she’s probably my favorite character for the mere fact she’s the least problematic and low-key carries the hustler title. When she’s not at her parents store, being nagged by her mother who holds her captive and racially profiling every young, black male as a thief who Josie righteously defends, she’s running back and forth between Flouray records and being a photographer. Extra brownie points for Josie.

As for next week, I’m still shaking at how Ahm will go about handling Nikki giving him the wrong tape. I mean, he took no time to rush over to her ex-home to confront her and as always, he didn’t look too happy. Can we at least see Ahm smile or half-smile…once? And also, let’s hope Juggy remains the C plot of the show, or D, I’m quite over his scheming demeanor and bland suits. Either way it goes, I’ll be satisfied.